


What if Noble 6 Survived?

by genietothemax



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Rewrite, Noble 6 survives, Other, Six Survives Reach
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27233206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genietothemax/pseuds/genietothemax
Summary: In this work, we explore a possible timeline where Noble 6 survived the Fall of Reach. The First game isn't *too* divergent, but sets up events that could drastically change the timeline of events in the rest of the Halo series.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	What if Noble 6 Survived?

In Halo: Reach, Bungie’s send-off to the Halo franchise before handing the reigns to 343 industries, we are introduced to Spartan-B312, aka Noble 6, a Spartan-III member of the squad Noble Team. Noble 6 was described as Hyper-lethal, among other things, a ranking that only one other Spartan has achieved: Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. Needless to say, Noble 6 was an extremely important asset in the War against the Covenant and would have been invaluable in the Battle of Installation-04. Unfortunately, after Noble 5, Emile-A239, fell in battle, Noble 6 was forced to sacrifice themself to prevent the UNSC Pillar of Autumn from being destroyed by a Covenant Cruiser. But what if they survived? What if Emile did not die on the Mass Driver canon, and was able to destroy the cruiser before it glassed the surface?

For this timeline to be possible, one thing needs to change: Noble 6 needs a sniper rifle. If Noble 6 is equipped with a sniper rifle when Captain Keyes arrives to retrieve the Cortana fragment, they can shoot the Sangheili Zealot that picks Emile up before he is stabbed with the Energy Sword. Emile can then continue to operate the Mass Driver, while Noble 6 boards the Pillar of Autumn with Captain Keyes and goes into cryo sleep alongside the Master Chief.

Events afterwards mostly play out the same as they did in the beginning of Halo: CE and Halo: The Flood (the novelization of Halo: CE), except for one major factor; Captain Keyes is never captured. In Halo: The Flood, a high-ranking Elite with a cloaking device was given orders to gather intelligence and capture human officers. This Elite followed Captain Keyes and the rest of the bridge crew onto their escape pod, where he was then shot and killed by the Captain himself. Because this elite’s body was found at the pod’s crash site, the covenant gathered that the pod must have contained a high-ranking human officer and mobilized to capture the bridge crew. In our new timeline, Master Chief is ordered to get Cortana off the ship while Noble 6 stays behind to protect the bridge crew. Using their experience in battle, Noble 6 would have noticed the Cloaked elite long before it ever boarded the escape pod with the bridge crew, thus the Covenant would have no reason to hunt down Captain Keyes.

Because Captain Keyes is never captured, the UNSC has no reason to board the Truth and Reconciliation, and thus Captain Keyes never learns that Halo is a weapon. However, through Cortana does still learn of Halo’s purpose by monitoring the Covenant battle network. The Master Chief is sent to find the Silent Cartographer while Noble 6 stays behind to protect Alpha Base and fend off the Covenant Ghost assault.

While the Master Chief moves to find the control room, Noble 6 travels with Captain Keyes and Sergeant Johnson to check out the location of a Covenant weapons depot that was disclosed to them by a Covenant POW. When they arrived, however, they found that the location was completely abandoned by all except corpses. Noble 6 recognized that something was off (“Plasma weapons don’t splatter blood everywhere”) and strongly suggested that they retreat and return with more forces to investigate what occurred. Cortana, from the control room, makes contact with Noble 6 and tells them to get out of there immediately, warning them of the Flood.

Captain Keyes agrees with Cortana and the company begins to move out, but not before being set upon by the Flood. Noble 6 manages to make it back to the LZ with a handful of marines, Captain Keyes, and Sergeant Johnson with the help of 343 Guilty Spark and his sentinels. Noble 6 is about to move out with the rest of the company when they are whisked away to the library by Guilty Spark. While Noble 6 is battling the Flood in the Library, the Master Chief is busy defending the control room from multiple waves of Covenant reinforcements trying to retake the control room. While the Master Chief is defending their position, Cortana is busy downloading all the information that she can handle, including the locations of other installations, a brief history of the Forerunners and the Flood, and how to activate the ring. After it looks like the Covenant have given up for now, Chief is called back to Alpha Base, where Cortana begins to debrief Captain Keyes on what she had found. Keyes interrupts her, stating that 343 Guilty Spark absconded with Noble 6 and they need to find them ASAP.

We cut back to Noble 6, who has just retrieved the Index and been teleported back to the control room. As soon as they reappear, Cortana makes contact, ordering them not to put the index in the console and to return to Alpha Base immediately. Guilty Spark uses his sentinels to try and kill Noble 6, but they commandeer a banshee, retreat to Alpha Base, and hand the Index to the Master Chief for safe-keeping.

Captain Keyes briefs everyone on the next mission, which will come in two phases. The Master Chief and the remaining UNSC forces will capture a Covenant Battle Cruiser named the Truth and Reconciliation and use it to escape the ring. The Master Chief and the UNSC forces board and capture the Truth and Reconciliation, taking prisoners and purging the ship of any and all flood presence, excepting private Jenkins, who was infected by the Flood but still retained some form of consciousness. The UNSC managed to capture a Covenant leader, the Prophet of Stewardship, as well. Master Chief makes a remark about how they had accidentally completed the mission they were given by Catherine Halsey without even realizing it.

After purging the ship of the Flood, Captain Keyes gives Noble 6 the green light to proceed with Phase 2; Using the Pillar of Autumn’s engines to cause a chain reaction and destroy Halo. This plays out almost exactly like the final level in Halo: CE, The Maw, even down to Foehammer being shot down by banshees before she could extract Noble 6. Noble 6 boards the longsword, escapes the explosion, and meetup with the UNSC aboard the Truth and Reconciliation before making a randomized slipstream jump, as per the Cole Protocol.

**Author's Note:**

> I recognize that this is a little bit a piece of shit. If y'all would like to see this in a narrative format, lmk, but keep in mind that might not actually happen.


End file.
